TOKYO, March 10 — Japanese opposition parties have expressed doubt about the intention of the Shinzo Abe-led government that was in a hurry to pass revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) legislation at the current parliamentary session.
They addressed the matter after 11 countries including Japan signed the trade pact, renamed the Comprehensive Progressive TPP (CPTPP), in Santiago, Chile on March 8.
“The exporting expansion of industrial goods at the expense of agriculture remains in the revised TPP-11,” said Takahiro Sasaki, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP)’s senior member of the lower house agriculture committee.
“Yet, we haven’t seen a clear picture of how to transform the agriculture sector, while protecting farmers from rising imports,” he said. “There is no need to move the TPP-11 legislation for quick approval.”
Sasaki is vice president of the center-left CDP, which became the nation’s largest opposition force, despite being less than a month old before the Oct. 22 general election last year.